Shortly after Halloween, the neon "Glögg Time" sign goes up at Simon's in Andersonville. It stays up until around Valentine's Day. While glögg is traditionally a Christmas drink, I welcome it's staying power in our cold and dark Chicago. At Simon's they even serve it with a gingerbread cookie. If you're successfully able to break your cookie into three pieces (using your knuckle), good luck will come to you.
I first had glögg in Sweden during the local Lucia festival. It's a ways off, but St. Lucia Day usually falls on December 13th. I'm sure there will be a handful of celebrations in Chicago. They usually involve candles, singing, and lussekatter. Oh man, lussekatter are good.
You can make your own glögg too. There are a bunch of recipes out there, but these look good.
Recipe 1
Recipe 2
Recipe 3
Oh yeah, you get major points if you can pronounce glögg correctly!
